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Charles I of England

1600 CE – 1649 CE

Retrace Charles I of England's life across the map — 15 events in chronological order, from a cinematic flythrough to a full timeline.

Life journey

1. Anglo-Spanish War of 1625–16301625 CE
   The Anglo-Spanish War of 1625–1630 was fought between Spain and England, with the Dutch Republic and Scotland participating on the English side. An offshoot of the Eighty Years' War between the Dutch and Spanish, the conflict's battles consisted of a mixture of land and naval engagements. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Madrid in 1630, resulting in a status quo ante bellum. However, the conflict resulted in English cloth merchants losing access to profitable markets in Flanders, leading to widespread discontent. It also increased divisions between the Parliament of England and the English monarchy, which would ultimately result in the First English Civil War in 1642.
2. Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré1627 CE
   The siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, or siege of St. Martin's, was an attempt by English forces under George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, to capture the French fortress-city of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, on the isle of Ré, in 1627. After three months of siege, the Marquis de Toiras and a relief force of French ships and troops managed to repel the Duke, who was forced to withdraw in defeat. The encounter followed another defeat for Buckingham, the 1625 Cádiz expedition, and is considered to be the opening conflict of the Anglo-French War of 1627–1629.
3. Wars of the Three Kingdoms1638 CE
   The Wars of the Three Kingdoms is the collective term for a series of conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in England, Scotland and Ireland, then separate entities in a personal union under Charles I. They include the 1639 to 1640 Bishops' Wars, the First and Second English Civil Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland and the Anglo-Scottish War of 1650–1652. They resulted in the execution of Charles I, the abolition of monarchy, and founding of the Commonwealth of England, a unitary state which controlled the British Isles until the Stuart Restoration in 1660.
4. First Bishops' War1639 CE
   The First Bishops' War was a conflict that took place in Scotland in 1639 between a Scottish political movement known as the Covenanters and forces loyal to King Charles I, who at that time was the king of both Scotland and England. Military activity was mostly limited to skirmishing in the north-east of Scotland. Scottish and English armies assembled at the border in June 1639 but withdrew without a battle after agreeing to a treaty. However, this failed to resolve the political tensions and fighting resumed the next year with the Second Bishops' War. The Bishops' Wars were the first of a series now called the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
5. Battle of Turnham Green1642 CE
   The Battle of Turnham Green took place on 13 November 1642 near the village of Turnham Green, at the end of the first campaigning season of the First English Civil War. The battle resulted in a standoff between the forces of King Charles I and the much larger Parliamentarian army under the command of the Earl of Essex. In blocking the Royalist army's way to London immediately, however, the Parliamentarians gained an important strategic victory as the standoff forced Charles and his army to retreat to Oxford for secure winter quarters.
6. Siege of Hull1642 CE
   The first siege of Hull marked a major escalation in the conflict between King Charles I and Parliament during the build-up to the First English Civil War. Charles sought to secure the large arsenal held in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. He first approached the town in late April 1642 and was rebuffed by the town's Parliamentarian governor, Sir John Hotham. Charles retreated to York but in July he received news that Hotham might be willing to hand over the town if the Royalists approached with force large enough for Hotham to surrender with his honour intact.
7. Battle of Edgehill1642 CE
   The Battle of Edgehill was a pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642.
8. English Civil War1642 CE
   The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the struggle consisted of the First English Civil War and the Second English Civil War. The Anglo-Scottish war of 1650 to 1652 is sometimes referred to as the Third English Civil War.
9. Siege of Gloucester1643 CE
   The siege of Gloucester took place between 10 August and 5 September 1643 during the First English Civil War. It was part of a Royalist campaign led by King Charles I to take control of the Severn Valley from the Parliamentarians. Following the costly storming of Bristol on 26 July, Charles invested Gloucester in the hope that a show of force would prompt it to surrender quickly and without bloodshed. When the city, under the governorship of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Massey, refused, the Royalists attempted to bombard it into submission. Massey adopted an aggressive defence, and the Royalist positions outside the city were regularly disrupted by Parliamentarian raids. The Royalist artillery proved inadequate for the task of siege work and, faced with a shortage of ammunition, the besiegers attempted to breach the city walls by mining. With Royalist miners about to reach the city's east gate and the defenders critically low on gunpowder, a Parliamentarian army led by the Earl of Essex arrived and forced Charles to lift the siege.
10. First Battle of Newbury1643 CE
    The First Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War that was fought on 20 September 1643 between a Royalist army, under the personal command of King Charles, and a Parliamentarian force led by the Earl of Essex. Following a year of Royalist battlefield successes, in which they took Banbury, Oxford and Reading without conflict before storming Bristol, the Parliamentarians were left without an effective army in the west of England. When Charles laid siege to Gloucester, Parliament was forced to muster a force under Essex with which to beat Charles' forces off. After a long march, Essex surprised the Royalists and forced them away from Gloucester before beginning a retreat to London. Charles rallied his forces and pursued Essex, overtaking the Parliamentarian army at Newbury and forcing them to march past the Royalist force to continue their retreat.
11. Battle of Lostwithiel1644 CE
    The Battle of Lostwithiel took place over a 13-day period from 21 August to 2 September 1644, around the town of Lostwithiel and along the River Fowey valley in Cornwall during the First English Civil War. A Royalist army led by Charles I of England defeated a Parliamentarian force commanded by the Earl of Essex.
12. Second Battle of Newbury1644 CE
    The Second Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War fought on 27 October 1644, in Speen, adjoining Newbury in Berkshire. The battle was fought close to the site of the First Battle of Newbury, which took place in late September the previous year.
13. Siege of Oxford1644 CE
    The siege of Oxford comprised the English Civil War military campaigns waged to besiege the Royalist controlled city of Oxford, involving three short engagements over twenty-five months, which ended with a Parliamentarian victory in June 1646.
14. Battle of Cropredy Bridge1644 CE
    The Battle of Cropredy Bridge was fought on Saturday 29 June 1644 near Banbury, Oxfordshire during the First English Civil War. In the engagement, Sir William Waller and the Parliamentarian army failed to capture King Charles.
15. Battle of Naseby1645 CE
    The Battle of Naseby took place on 14 June 1645 during the First English Civil War, near the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire. The Parliamentarian New Model Army, commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, destroyed the main Royalist army under Charles I and Prince Rupert. The defeat ended any real hope of Royalist victory, although Charles did not finally surrender until May 1646.

Event data from Wikipedia/Wikidata (CC-BY-SA). Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected].